Like a Phoenix
by Captain-Spangled
Summary: Emilia Summers has never questioned her Amity upbringing. But now that she is facing the choosing ceremony, she starts to realize that that life just isn't for her. She want's a chance to make her own way, not following the crowd. Follow her as she chooses the faction of the daring and tries to make a life for herself in Dauntless.


_" I'm gonna change you like a remix,  
>then I'll raise you like a phoenix " <em>

* * *

><p>Emilia sat at the lunch table, a small smile on her face. Her slim fingers lightly tapped against the dark wood, a faint pattern of sound drifting around her. All around her, her fellow classmates sat passing time in the typical fashion of their faction. The Erudite read and debated in small clusters and hushed voices. The Candor argued about something, their strong loud voices contrasting those of the people dressed in blue. Then there were the Dauntless, even louder still as they pushed each other around and acted reckless (or about as reckless as you could in a lunch room). And lastly, the Abnegation were sitting so still and silent that they would put a pile of rocks to shame. Emilia wondered if any of them were as nervous as she was or if they could even tell that she was nervous. Probably not. With her natural smile, they would probably think she was peaceful, at ease with what was about to happen. Not surprising seeing as that was what her faction, Amity, was known for. No, if anything, her tapping fingers gave her away.<p>

She looked around at her fellow faction members, marked by their red and yellow attire. Some, like her, were sitting quietly with smiles on their faces—by now it was pretty much their default expression. Others were talking happily to those around them, forming small groups along the table. There was also the small group of girls who were seated on the ground playing some sort of game. They were too far away for Emilia to identify exactly what they were playing but she could hear their bursts of laughter every once and a while. The sound caused her smile to widen slightly. The sound was familiar and provided a bit of comfort. It would never cease to amaze her how calm Amity members could be in situations.

Here they all were, waiting to hear their name called so that they could take a very important test. One that would help them make the most important decision of their lives; which faction they really belong too.

The thought of choosing tomorrow at the choosing ceremony scared her to no end. Never before had she even had to make a decision so important that it would affect the rest of her life. Up until now, everything had been decided for her; her work assignment, her classes, the way she dressed, even the way she acted. She never really had a say in any of it. Now they were going to make her make this huge choice and she wasn't ready.

"Emilia!" A voice cried suddenly, pulling the blonde haired girl from her thoughts.

"Robin!" She responded happily, glad for a distraction.

The girl, Robin, took a seat next to her friend and quickly pulled her into a hug, which was a typical Amity greeting. "I was wondering where you were. I was going to wait for you when class was let out but then I got distracted talking with Alexander. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, I understand." Emilia said with a shake of her head. "How are things going between the two of you?"

Robin's smile widened, showing off her straight, white teeth. "Well, I think. He asked me to ride back to camp with him." A happy squeal escaped her mouth as she grabbed Emilia's hands and gave them a squeeze. "Can you believe it?"

"I'm so happy for you, Robin." Emilia beamed, though in the back of her mind she was confused. Why was her friend bothering to get excited over this when nothing might come of it after tomorrow? What if her and Alexander choose different factions?

But she would never say her thoughts out loud, for that might start a confrontation and she did not want that. So instead she kept smiling and played along.

Emilia let Robin blather on about Alexander for a few minutes before suggesting that the two of them join the girls playing the game on the floor. She couldn't just sit at the table anymore. The order for the test was random so she had no idea when it could be her turn, just that she would be called with another member from her faction as well as two from each of the others. Robin agrees happily and the two girls rise from their seats at the table.

The girls on the floor accept them both with smiles, making enough room for them to join. Now that she was there, Emilia recognized the game as a simple rhyme and patterned game. They sat in the circle and clapped hands one at a time while everyone sang the rhyme. If your hand was clapped last when the rhyme ended then you were out. But this was Amity so after a quick bout of laughter the game would continue without anyone being left out.

The group played together, pausing every ten minutes or so when one of them was called to take the test. A few turns went before Robin was called.

"From Erudite: Katherine Coney and Anthony McNally. From Amity: Robin Knight and Alexander Sykes…"

For the first time that day Emilia saw Robin's smile falter. _Maybe she's just as nervous as I am, _she thought to herself as she pulled her friend into a quick hug.

"Good luck." She whispered into the girl's ear before letting go.

"Thanks," Robin muttered before pushing herself up and walking towards the far side of the room where the others had already lined up. When she got there, she turned around and gave Emilia a quick wave before disappearing in a flick of yellow fabric and dark blonde hair.

She continued to look in the direction her friend had disappeared in for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and rejoining the hand clapping game. A few more rounds were played before she heard her own name called.

"…And Seamus Salomon. From Erudite: Anastasia Stacy and Edmund Payton. From Amity: Emilia Summers and Dayton Anderson. From Candor…"

Emilia was still for a moment before her body started to move. Getting to her feet, she brushed off any dirt from her bright red skirt and started heading towards the door and the woman from Abnegation who had called her name. When the others whose names had been called joined them by the door, the woman smiled before pushing it open and gesturing for them to enter.

A long hallways greets them, one wall empty while the other is made up of a line of rooms, ten of them. Emilia followed the boy from Erudite down the hall, stopping only when she came to the room that she would take her test in, room number six. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly before taking a step towards the door.

The first thing she noticed upon entering was that it was completely empty except for a large medical like chair and a small tray. Behind the tray was a tall man from Abnegation. But Emilia didn't focus on him for long; instead her attention was drawn to her reflection in the wall length mirror. Her lower lip was red from biting on it and her entire body shook slightly. She also noticed that her face showed her worry, something she quickly tried to fix with a quick smile. She then noticed how forced it looked and dropped it, accepting that she wasn't going to be able to keep up her normal peaceful appearance.

"Hello, my name is Jeremiah and I will be administering your test today." The man in gray said as he stepped out from behind the small tray.

Emilia turned away from the mirror wall and focused her attention on Jeremiah. "Um, where's the desk?" She asked, her voice small.

How did they expect her to take a test when she wasn't provided with an adequate writing surface? Or maybe it was a spoken exam? Jeremiah gave a faint smile before shaking his head. She wondered how many times he's been asked the simple question.

"It's not that type of test." He answered simply.

"Then what type of test is it?" She was stalling and he knew it. Smile still in place, Jeremiah gestured towards the chair before turning back to the small table.

Sighing, Emilia stepped towards the chair and took a seat.

"It's a type of simulation. Don't worry, it doesn't hurt." He came around and offered her a small glass filled with a blue liquid. "You drink this and then I will be able to monitor everything on this little screen here," he gestured this time to a small monitor that took up most of the tray, "When the simulation is complete I'll be able to look over the data and give you your results."

Emilia's eyes flickered from Jeremiah to the glass he was offering her. "Sounds easy enough." She muttered, her tone unsure. Taking the glass, she held it for a moment before bringing it to her lips and downing it.

Within seconds her eyes began to feel heavy, like she hadn't slept in weeks. Her brows furrowed in confusion and she started blinking quickly in an effort to keep herself from falling asleep. The last thing she saw was Jeremiah's knowing look before everything went dark.

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><p>When she opened her eyes, Emilia found herself in the same mirrored room only this time it was completely empty: no Jeremiah, chair, or tray full of equipment. She didn't remember getting up but her she was, standing in the middle of the room. Confused, she slowly started to spin around slowly.<p>

"Choose." A calm voice said suddenly, causing Emilia to search around for its source. She found no one. She did, however, find to small baskets placed at her feet. One contained a block of yellow cheese while the other held a large knife.

"Choose." The voice said again.

Panicking slightly, Emilia did as she was told and bent down, grabbing the chunk of cheese. It was a reflects. Years of living in Amity had taught her to always go for the non threatening of confrontational direction. If they were providing her with some cheese and a knife than whatever was going on couldn't be that bad.

As soon as the cheese was in her hand the baskets vanished and a noise once again filled the room. A low growl rumbled not to far behind her and upon turning around Emilia saw a large black dog. Emilia watched as it let out another low growl, it's muzzle pulling back to show off a row of large teeth.

Now Emilia has seen and been around dogs before, but not very often. Most of the ones in Amity where in the animal section of the compound. She was much more familiar with cats. One in particular liked to meow outside her window at night until she let him in. She would then give him some milk before cuddling him to her body before bed.

The dog barked loudly, pulling Emilia from her thoughts and causing her to jump.

_Think. Think! What would one of the handlers do if a dog started going crazy? _She asked herself. But no answer came to her. It'd been forever since she was down where the animals were kept, as it had nothing to do with her work assignment in the orchards. She wanted to cry. Now she was wishing she would have picked the damn knife, at least that would have offered more protection than a stupid hunk of cheese.

Wait a second…

The dog started charging at her and Emilia did the only thing she could think of, held out the cheese. As the dog got closer though, she second guessed herself and closed her eyes in preparation for the dog to rip her arm off. Luckily, that didn't happen. Seconds ticked by and her arm was still intact. Chancing it, she opened one of her eyes a bit and saw that the dog was in front of her, but instead of attacking he was sniffing at the cheese in her hand.

Breaking a piece off, she offered it out to him and he accepted it happily. "You're not so scary now, are you?" She said as she broke off another piece.

The dog looked up at her, it's head turned to the side and it's tongue hanging out of its mouth. It was almost like a completely new dog. Emilia gave it the rest of the cheese and a pat on the head before it disappeared. In fact, the whole room disappeared. Instead of standing in the middle of the mirrored test room, she was now standing in the middle of an empty bus. Well, almost empty. Across from her sat a person reading a newspaper. *All she could see was their black pants and the white sleeves of their coat.

"Do you know this man?" The person from Candor asked, lifting the paper. The deep voice told her that the person was male.

Emilia looked at the photo that was centered on the front page. Again it was a man, one that looked vaguely familiar to her. Squinting her eyes, she took a step closer for a better look.

"Well? Do you know him?" The Candor man asked again, his voice more angry. "Tell me!"

"I don't know." Emilia answered truthfully. She felt as though she had seen the man in the newspaper before but she couldn't be sure where. She knew it wasn't in any big way. If anything, she had probably passed him on the street or just seen him in another newspaper.

The Candor man lowered his newspaper, revealing his horribly scarred face. "Don't lie to me! Tell me!" He shouted again.

Emilia hated dealing with people from Candor, they were so insistent on the stupid truth. Instinct kicked in once more and she did what she was brought up too; calm the waters.

Placing a small smile on her face, she looked the man in the eyes and said, "Sir, I do feel as though I have seen him before but I'm not exactly sure where. It could have been in another article or I could have passed him in the street. I'm sorry but that's all I know."

The man just glared at her, stretching out his scars, before disappearing like the dog. The bus also changed, this time into one of the classrooms at the school. She was sitting in a desk in the middle of the room, a book and notebook in front of her. Next to her was a girl. Her clothing was strange as it seemed to change color every couple of seconds. For a while she would be wearing the gray clothes of an Abnegation member and the next she could be wearing a dress of Erudite blue.

"So what did you get for an answer?" She asked, drawing Emilia's attention away from her clothes.

"Ah," Emilia stammered slightly before looking down at her notebook. It was covered in doodles and an unfinished math problem, something that wasn't uncommon for her. "I don't know?"

"Emilia, come on, you have to apply yourself. It's not that hard." The girl said, the sound of disappointment clear in her voice.

Emilia sighed and looked back down at the problem. The numbers seemed to start swirling together and she let out a sigh.

"Come on, Emilia. What's the answer?" The girl said again. This time she was wearing the red and yellow of Amity.

"I don't know." Emilia sighed, resting her head on the desk.

"Try!"

Emilia let out another sigh before a new sound reached her ears. A window had appeared in the room and on the other side was a group of kids her age. They were all dresses similarly to the girl next to her, their clothes all changing at different times. None of them really look familiar to her but she still had this feeling deep in her gut that she knew them, that she was friends with them.

"Emilia, come outside!" they all called, large smiles on their faces. "Come outside with us."

Emilia smiled and waved, making a move to get out of her seat when the girl got her attention by speaking.

"Emilia, you have to finish the problem."

Looking down at the notebook, Emilia watched the numbers float around again. She really didn't want to stay there and do math, she wanted to go out and be with her friends. Shooting the girl an apologetic look, she got up from her seat and started towards the door.

"I'm sorry, we can do math later." She promised before opening the door and walking into darkness.

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><p><strong>Authors note<strong> ;; Okay, so I know this isn't twilight related, but it's my birthday and I wanted to get something out for you guys. So here's the first chapter of my new Divergent story! I'm going on vacation at the end of this week, which is part of the reason why i haven't been very active as I was trying to get shit ready for that and not fall behind on my school work. So hopefully when I get back I will have a little more free time to get back to writing. Anyway, let me know what you think. I'm going to be following the book more than the movie but really make it my own. You'll see why in the next couple of chapters. Thanks for reading!


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